The Great Indian Autorickshaw Tamasha!

The public transport in our country is definitely not a match to the exponentially rising population and vibrantly growing economy. Though a few of the metropolitans are coming to terms with the super suave metro rail and the German engineered buses to ferry the commuters in and across the town, their is still a long way to go on improving a commoners daily travelling woes. In India where majority of people still rely on the public transport for their routine chores, the draconian and ever increasing fuel prices are making things even tougher. A middle class man who can somehow afford to buy a vehicle on his own stops himself from going the extra mile fearing the high fuel cost he will have to bear once he eventually buys the vehicle and this increases the load on the public transport all the more. Eventually a majority has to rely on the local rail, city buses, shared tumtums or auto rickshaws for their survival and amongst all these the auto-rickshaws or the auto-rickshaw waalas are the most interesting and unanimously annoying breed.

Hailing from a small town gives ample opportunities to visit and live in metro cities for essential things like studies and work. And once you keep getting such opportunities you tend to start comparing these big cities against each other on different parameters. Public transport surely happens to be one such parameter and the auto-rickshaw waalas become one of the chief artisans of this large ambit.

Now things can't be better than what they are in the small cities like Raipur (incidentally my home town) where you sort of know everybody in the town from the top bureaucrat to every auto-rickshaw waala and vica versa. So if at all you have to avail the services of an auto-rickshaw, its an innocuous experience where in you chit chat along the way and the amount you need to pay to the vendor for his services is left on your discretion. Simple, hassle free and one of the many benefits of living in a small town!

Things drastically change once you move up to the capital city of New Delhi where in one of the many precautions you are bombarded up with from all corners is about being extra cautious against the auto-rickshaw waalas of the metropolitan. On the face of it these auto-rickshaw waalas seem super friendly, uber social and your best possible guide for the journey but you won't even realize how a 1km journey has been smartly fooled around in the numerous narrow by-lanes and transitioned into an 8km misery. And if by any chance you try to question any of their actions, be prepared to get an Oxford Dictionary Tutorial on the most innovative and never before abuses. Sugary start with an almost certain scary finish!

On moving down south to the city of Nizam's, Hyderabad, one surely gets a sense that the autorickshaw waalas of the city are the true Nizams of the territory. If you approach them to ask for their willingness to ferry you from point A to point B ( which ideally costs around Rs 30 by meter ) they will warmly answer in affirmitive. But the moment you ask for the cost of the ride they will bluntly say Rs 150 with the same smile, as if they are dropping you for free. Obviously one is compelled to ask why this exorbitant pricing and why not go by the meter, to that they will give you such an annoying look as if you have asked him for her daughter's mobile number. And the ones who are a bit polite in conduct will put forth a logic that the 'slightly' high pricing is due to the half return charges they have included to compensate for the scenario that they might have to come back all the way without any passenger. Though by rule this half return formula is applicable after midnight but dare you teach that to Mr Nizam, as you might skirt with the risk of turning the polite lad into an irked one. Illogical, illegal but still the unstated norm!

The scenario in the oxford of the east is by no means better. The autorickshaw waalas in Pune have this unique tendency of refusing to ferry you and rather opting to sit idle reading newspaper. Obviously bamboozled by this refusal one asks for a reason to which the angry old man responds with a 'My Rick, My wish' bouncer. And the ones who are actually ready to serve you never have change handy with them and this situation invariably pops up once you have reached your destination. If the tariff comes out to Rs 72 and you hand them a hundred rupee note you eventually end up paying Rs 100 for a Rs 72 ride because they always pretend to be short of change. One of the million ways of goofing and making money!

Amazingly things are not this scary in the buzzing metropolis of Mumbai, in fact the simplicity and the honesty in operations of the auto-rickshaw waalas leaves people in a bewildered state. The operative logic remains quite simple, whatever be the destination, whatever be the time of the day, no arguments, no bargaining just follow 'pay by meter' mantra. And this thumb rule quite literally eliminates the chances of fraud that might arise from 'fooling around in the by-lanes' or an unnecessarily imposed 'half return loading' or losses arising from the 'no change drama'. The scenario is quite contrasting as the vast expanse of the city gives ample opportunities for foul play but probably a strong public transport system in the form of local rail and good network of BEST buses augurs well for the auto-rickshaw waalas too to play fair. Astonishingly refreshing setup for the commoner!

Though I have never experienced the music of Chennai auto-rickshaw waalas personally but having heard about them to such extents, I feel if any community can give the Delhi clan a run for their money then it's the Chennai gang. Supposedly the only denomination the Chennai auto-rickshaw waalas understand is that of hundreds, no matter how close the destination is, the quoted price invariably happens to be Rs 100 or multiples of that, no rationale, no logic, no meter, just their own rules. Sadly, they literally feed on the outsiders who don't understand their local language obviously its a nightmarish experience for the north Indians. And even if they do know Hindi or English they pretend that they are unaware of it and try to fool the passenger on that premise. Certainly not the best city to hire an auto-rickshaw!

Nothing against the community and also not denying the fact that they are a necessity in this nation, still it can be safely said that because of a few mavericks they don't enjoy the faith of the masses and are more aptly availed as TINA factor rather then being the preferred choice. If only things would have been more transparent and consumer friendly the need for writing this satire wouldn't have come up.

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